The long Sleep

The cavern was cold and dark, only the gentle sound of dripping water to cut through the silence, echoing through the tunnels that lead in to their nest. Maria Reigns was going through the pile of belongings that had decayed over the last two decades, looking for anything that might still be salvageable. The dress she had gone to sleep in had practically rotted off of her body, being held up by thin strands that hitched up around her neck, tangling into her now insanely long hair. The dark brown locks trailed the floor behind her, getting caught on the various things that poked up like synthetic bambles. No matter how much she had tried to ball it up over her shoulders, it continued to fall, weighing her down as she tried to move. She had been looking for anything sharp enough to cut this mass of hair. Her old hunting knife had gone dull due to weathering, and every pair of scissors she had found had snapped in two due to rust on the hinge.

She was getting frustrated with it, in all honesty, a frustration that was growing with her hunger. She felt tired and week, now sitting down on a somewhat soft part of the pile in order to catch her breath. She looked up at the grate above her, looking at the pale light that filtered in as snow fell into their little home. It was cold, out here in the world. Not at all like being in the lights, were it was warm and comfortable. She was never hungry when she was in the lights, she didn't feel the weight of her hair on her head, or the chill of the wind, just him. Just Pennywise.

Pennywise. She smiled as she thought about his face, how it had looked so concerned when she had woken up, at least thirty pounds lighter than she had been when she went to sleep. She bullet wound in her shoulder had healed completely, barely a scar left to remember it. Golden eyes had looked over her, touching her skin as she almost fell into him, unexpectedly week. He had held her for a bit before leaving to go get both of them the food they needed, as well as some other supplies.

That had been a few hours ago, and he was still out. She wondered if he had gotten lost, had the city changed a lot in the last twenty-seven years? Twenty seven years...it didn't feel like it had been that long. When she had found a small hand mirror in a purse, she had looked at herself in it, he hair was long, her face sallow, and there was a faint yellow gleam in her one green and one brown eyes, but she still looked like a nineteen year old. Despite the unfortunate, and somewhat weird side effects of it, Penny's plan had worked. She had survived the hibernation with him, something that a human was, most certainly, not supposed to be able to do.

Now, however, she felt she could fully understand what he experienced every time he had woken hunger. She was starving, ravenous almost, and she felt like she would eat anything she could get her hands on. Her stomach was groaning at her constantly, and every time she moved to continue her search, it moaned more. Hopefully Pennywise would be back shortly with-

There was a slight dragging sound coming down one of the tunnels. She looked towards it and smiles as she saw the two, yellow gleams peeking out of it. Eventually the pale face accompanied the eyes, and then the rest of him. He was back, dragging a young boy in a heavy snow coat in one hand, and what she assumed must be a young girl was slung over his shoulder, the bag in his hand slumped against her back. She got up as she dropped both of his victims down onto the ground, causing a dull, wet slap as the girls stump of an arm splashed into a puddle. Maria smiled and went up to him, kissing his lips, tasting the dried blood that stained his chin.

"Had a snack on your way back?" she asked as he pulled her against him, handing her the bag that contained a set of clothes, some food, and a nice, sharp looking pair of scissors.

"Couldn't help it." he replied lightly. "I was ravenous. But I brought you some snacks of your own, so we're even."

Maria chuckled and looked over at the two kids. The boy's eyes were closed, but she could see his chest moving as he breathed, the girl on the other hand, was very clearly dead. Her eyes were open and fogged over with a milky film. Maria looked at the two kids for a while, before turning away and smiling at Pennywise again.

"Well eat up. I'm gonna do the same and cut away this insane rapunzel hair." He reached up and gave him another kiss, much to his very clear delight. As she started to walk back to the little wagon that had been a sort of room for her at one point, he took her hand and stopped her, putting his other hand on her hip and kissing the back of her neck.

"Don't be to long. My appetite is for more than just food…" He hummed in her ear, sending a shiver down her spine. She nodded and smiled, patting his cheek before going on to her business.

She hadn't even entered the wagon before she heard a wet, dull crunching sound coming from were the children lay. She doubted either one of those kids would be floating later, he looked hungry enough to eat them entirely, right then and there. Not that she blamed him. The smell of convenience store deli chicken whafted up from the bag in her hand as she stepped inside and closed the door with a dull, wooden thwak. Sitting down on the dusty bed she looked around the small wagon, it had gotten dusty again, but it wasn't too bad. Considering how long Pennywise had been in possession of this wagon, she had to assume some form of his power kept it from falling apart.

Now if only there was a way for him to just make it keep clean….She mused to herself with a small smile, reaching in to the bag and pulling out her food. It had gotten a bit cold in the winter air, but it was still edible, and there was a lot of it, so she had no reason to complain. Oddly enough, however, it did not have the same kind of flavor she had remembered it having. Perhaps it was even more synthetic than it used to be, so far in the future, but it tasted bland, dull, almost like chewing on rubber.

Still, she ate the entirety of the bag, feeling her stomach protest from being empty to almost too full. She knew that eventually she would have to worry about exercising again, regaining that muscle she had lost in her sleep, but she had time. Last time Penny had stayed awake for almost ten months, that would be enough time to figure out how to prepare better for their next rest. Right now, however, the big issue was this hair.

Pulling the scissors out of the bag and looking at their packaging, she sighed. Those stupid zip-ties that were such a pain were still used to hold them onto their new plastic boards with the pictures and warning. She turned them over in her hand, and her eyes moved down to the barcode in the lower right-hand side of the package. One pair of scissors for….fifty cents? And these looked like decent scissors too, prices went down? Maria shook her head in shock. She had always assumed that things like this would just keep getting more and more ridiculously expensive over time. So shaking her head again, she reached into the ancient remains of a fire that had once been used to keep her warm and pulled out her dull, rusty hunting knife. Carefully, so as not to hurt herself with it, she was able to saw through those zip ties and pull the scissors free. She tossed the trash back into the bag before going over to the dusty, broken mirror that had once been a part of a makeup vanity and started to snip away.

She was hacking at it at a pretty short length, if it was being done by a real hair dresser it probably would have been close to the good ol pixie cut. Maria, however, was never very good at giving herself a haircut. She did it, usually when it was getting too annoying at home, but she kept it long enough that if it was uneven she could just hide it in the natural body of her hair. This wasn't possible with how short it was going now. As she chopped off the rest of the bulk and ruffled her hands through the dry mess on top, it sort of looked like when a five year old took a pair of school scissors to their barbie doll. She looked at herself in the mirror again and shrugged, it wasn't great, but it was better than the fifty pounds of hair she had a few moments ago.

So she pulled off the raggs that had once been a dress and used it to brush the little, itchy wisps of hair off of her shoulders and tossed it to the side. As she was reaching back into the bag to pull out the clothes Pennywise had brought her, a pair of warm, silk hands wrapped themselves around her waist from behind, a gentle kiss being placed just behind her ear.

"I like the haircut." Pennywise said in a hum. "Its cute."

"It's shit, and I know it." Maria said with a chuckle, turning in his arms to look up at him. He looked just like he had when she had gone to sleep, or float. Nearly seven foot tall, white skin with a red smile that trailed up over his golden eyes, he looked much more rested then he had, but that was the only change. Pennywise smiled and tilted his head, running a hand down her side as he looked over her, concern mixing with lust in his eyes.

"You've lost so much weight…" He said, almost sadly. "I'm sorry….I didn't know it would do this to you…."

"We both knew there would be risks." She said, putting her hand to his cheek. "If a mass amount of hair growth and the loss of some weight are the worst I suffered then I would say we were very lucky. "

Pennywise sighed and looked down at his feet, the little remnants of blood on this clothing sticking out against the silver. Maria put her hand under his chin and made him look up at her, giving him a gentle smile.

"I'm okay, Pennywise. I'm okay. I promise." She looked at him for a moment before he smiled and nodded a little, the bells on his suit jingling sadly. She put her arms around his shoulders and stood on her toes to kiss him again, pressing her body against his, feeling his heat. She remembered the first time she was ever this close to him, she had thought the mere touch of his skin would burn her. What was she doing? Right...she had jumped on his back and put him in a stranglehold, trying to get him off of….Charlie….

Maria pulled away at the memories, he eyes drifting away from her lover for a moment. Pennywise looked at her in concern for a moment before recognising that gleam in her eye. A shine that reminded him so much of the one he would have when he was hungry, or angry. She was mad, furious, and it was beautiful. He ran his fingers through her short hair, catching her attention for a moment.

"We'll find them, Maria, if they're still here…" He said, a small, cruel, playful smile on his lips. " We'll find them."

Maria smiled again, a smile he had only ever seen before once, when they had killed that David kid...together. God, it made her look so powerful when she smiled like that. Despite her thin frame, she looked like she could take on the world in that moment. And he wanted to help her.

Maria took a hold of the front of his clown-suit and pulled him back, spun around, and pushed him back onto the small bed, causing it to creak loudly. Pennywise didn't have time to react before she was on top of him, her long legs on either side of his hips, her mouth bearing down on his own. He leaned up to kiss her more, but he didn't try to sit up completely. Her hands were on his shoulders, holding him back as she rocked against him. Despite all of those times in the past, those hot, primal nights when he would bend her over and mount her like a beast, he could never see her as his property. He was never in control with her.

This moment showed perfectly just what he had chosen. She was the one in charge. If she wanted something, it was hers. If she didn't want him to do something, he wouldn't. He didn't even have to ask her, he just knew. She would indulge his primal, animalistic side, but she would never be forced into anything. She was too powerful to let that happen.

And so, Pennywise leaned back and let himself be swept up in her desires. Their first contact since waking from such a long rest. It must have lasted for hours, Maria was full of much more energy than either one of them could have thought possible. She rode him to climax several times, never needing to speak for him to know how she wanted to be touched, or were. Unspoken communication let him know then to push up, deeper or to relax and let her do the work.

They were perfectly in sync.

After making love the two of them lay together in the old, rotting bed, keeping eachother warm in the cool winter air. Maria was rubbing little circles in his chest with her fingers, and he was mirroring the motion on her lower back. Both of them still catching their breath, and sweating a little bit, they were silent. A gentle, peaceful moment between two lovers.

"What's it like out there?" She asked him after a few short moments, her eyes looking hazy and happy. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer to his chest, sighing in her smell.

"About the same as it was before." He said softly. "More buildings, and taller. The cars are more quiet but it wasn't a massive change."

She nodded to him and breathed out a sigh of her own, sitting up and shivering slightly. Pennywise rubbed his hand up and down her arm, looking over her. We need a new place to live. She's human, she can't be in these types of places for too long….

"Maria….what do you think about-"

"I want to kill them."

Pennywise stopped and looked at her, his eyes blinking in mild shock. Her eyes were hard again, looking at nothing in particular as she spoke her thoughts out loud. He sat up as well and pulled her against his chest, her skin feeling cold to him.

"Of course." He replied, nuzzling against the crook of her neck. "We will kill them."

"Can we make it hurt? The same way they…"

"The way they hurt you?" He asked. She nodded. He kissed her shoulder and turned her so that they were looking at eachother again.

"Of course. Anything you want." He smiled at her and brushed a hand against her cheek. "We can hurt them as much as you wish before they die."

Maria smiled at him again and, for a brief second, he thought her teeth looked a little bit sharper than they had before. But when he blinked they were back to normal, flat, sort of crooked, human teeth.

Giving him a small kiss Matria stood up and started looking for the bag he had brought her, pulling it out from under the cot were they had kicked it. He started to pull on the clean clothes, new bra and panties, jeans and, oh her old favorite, a simple tank-top. Pennywise watched her for a few moments before standing up himself, his own clothing dawning themselves at his will. He patted her back and smiled, holding onto her hand as she pulled on her ancient pair of boots, still stained from her blood.

"Do you want to go up? There was quite the storm happening but I'm certain we could find somewhere to go that isn't too cold."

Maria smiled and nodded, walking with Pennywise out of the wagon and down the small slope of belongings. Maria looked up and saw a single, small floating form circling high above them, casting a shadow in pale, snowy light.

"Yeah...lets go see how the world's changed."